Prof Fu Hualing, member of CCPL Board of Management and CCPL Fellow, co-authored an article “Two Paradigms of Emergency Power: Hong Kong’s Liberal Order Meeting the Authoritarian State” in Hong Kong Law Journal.

Prof Fu Hualing, member of CCPL Board of Management and CCPL Fellow, co-authored an article “Two Paradigms of Emergency Power: Hong Kong’s Liberal Order Meeting the Authoritarian State” in Hong Kong Law Journal.

Article 18(4) of the Basic Law creates a dual emergency power: the internal emergency power of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR) and the external emergency power of the Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress. The external and internal emergencies represent two paradigms of emergency regime: the former is based on the state of exception, in which a state manages a crisis, largely independent of legal rules and without constitutional and legal accountability, and the latter is based on the concept of the rule of law, according to which the emergency power is subject to significant legal constraints. The internal and external emergencies in Hong Kong represent the opposite ends of the spectrum of emergency law between the liberal Hong Kong and the statist, authoritarian Chinese state. However, the minimum requirements of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, as provided in the Basic Law, should be and can be observed in both internal and external emergencies. To maximise the protection of rights and freedoms while addressing security concerns, it is necessary for the HKSAR to internalise emergency measures.

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